Biz Idol: How PR boss Shirley Soskin seduced Coke and broke the mould

The founder of Silverhawk Partners, Shirley Soskin, explains how she created
her first successful business, Clarion, a consumer PR firm, changed her life
to adopt two daughters from China and her support of David Cameron's drive
to get more women into UK politics. Emma Sinclair votes her this
week's Biz Idol.

Shirley comes from a long line of strong women. Her grandma was the only female, Jewish law graduate at St Petersburg University.

The youngest of six children, Shirley's father passed away when she was only five, leaving her mother with a lot of mouths to feed, a demanding job and her husband's investment business to take over.

Shirley always enjoyed cooking. At 17 she set up Lydia's Larder, Lydia being her middle name. Whilst her friends in the catering business stuck themselves in director's dining rooms in the City, she "whizzed around town" delivering home cooked meals which people could pretend to have cooked themselves. It was a precursor to the ready meal and takeaway but this was long before the days of Jamie Oliver and celebrity chefs so it was never a career option; just pocket money.

She planned to go university but like many entrepreneurs, never actually made it. At the tender age of 18 she was taking groups of British students to Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Brussels.

She fell upon the opportunity when, on a tube journey, she got talking to the director general of the European Movement responsible for promoting the EEC. She recalls his sage advice when she told him that she was too young for the job. "Age" he wisely told her "is something you'll grow out of".

By her mid 20's Shirley took a job in PR. "I was always interested in the press and loved that someone wanted to pay me to read the newspapers," she told me.

But 1984 was the real game changing year for Shirley. She noticed an advert seeking candidates for the head of UK PR for Coca Cola in the Sunday papers. She applied and promptly landed the job but recalls that "the moment she put her access card into the swipe at the office door and felt the aircon" she knew it "wasn't for her".

Within 18 months, she persuaded the Coca-Cola Company to not only let her leave to start her own PR company but also secured them as her first client. She recalls how people would suggest it was reckless leaving a good job with one client, telling her she had all her eggs in one basket. Shirley saw things differently. At least, she told me, "I had a basket!"

Putting her money where her mouth was, she drew down on the equity from her flat and starting an agency. She built Clarion, a consumer public relations firm, which she ran for before selling it to Cordiant, now part of WPP. She stayed on as chairman before departing to be able to demonstrate that she no longer worked five days a week.

Who did she need to demonstrate that to? By the late 90s, Shirley had begun the process to adopt her two daughters from China. She was acutely aware that if she worked full time she was likely to get turned down so she changed her lifestyle in order to be successful with her application. She started working three days a week and learnt Mandarin part time at SOAS.

Shirley is a passionate believer in effective flexible working. Having successfully established herself as an independent consultant with a portfolio of interests, including philanthropy and politics, she was determined to build an organisation to provide clients with access to flexible talent.

Her current business, Silverhawk Partners, is a hybrid search and consulting firm providing access to experienced, senior level professionals who can be hired on a flexible basis. With current pressures on full time head count, a more flexible solution can, Shirley believes, "provide a cost effective, efficient means of managing talent". Clients include KMPG, Cisco, John Lewis and smaller SMEs and private equity backed ventures. She's focussed on building the company up and no doubt exit at some point to a recruitment business.

She was also part of David Cameron's drive to see more women in parliament but sadly fighting a parliamentary seat does not, she says, "embrace a combination of running your own business and being a mother". She strongly believes that the Government would be better represented by having more entrepreneurs and mothers at the top table - but the system doesn't yet really allow it. I couldn't agree more.

What exactly is it that makes Shirley my Biz Idol this week? Perhaps it's the fact that at the heart of her journey, she has never been purely driven by money despite being the family breadwinner - and that she has also made her work suit her life. Shirley Soskin is a serial entrepreneur - driven, good humoured and balanced - and one who shows no sign of abating. And for the record, I'd definitely vote for her if she ever managed to squeeze in running for parliament.